Sofia Kiprskaya

Sofia Kiprskaya was born in 1991. Began to study music at the age of five. She is currently a postgraduate student at the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (class of Anna Makarova).

Starting in the 2008–2009 season she was a soloist with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra before joining the Mariinsky Orchestra itself in 2011. Prize-winner at international harp competitions including the Concours Félix Godefroid in Namur (1st prize and Coq d’argent special prize of the Association of Harpists, 2003), the Lily Laskine International Competition in Deauville (2nd prize, 2005), the International Franz Josef Reinl Stiftung Competition in Munich (1st prize, 2007), the International Martine Géliot Competition in Paris (1st and Special Jacques Charpentier Prize, 2008), the International Vera Dulova Competition in Moscow (2nd prize, 2008) and the Golden Harp international competition in St Petersburg (2nd prize and several special prizes, 2009).

Following her win at the Martine Géliot Competition the harpist recorded a solo CD.
In 2011 at the II International Golden Harp Competition she took 1st prize and the Special Prize for the best performance of a work by Tchaikovsky. Moreover, Kiprskaya has received the Star of Dmitry Likhachev’s Academy award (2005), the Yuri Temirkanov Prize (2008), the Union of Concert Musicians of the Russian Federation Prize (2008) and the Hope of Russia prize (2009) in addition to grants from the New Names foundation (2006), the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation (2008) and the Russian Young Talents programme (2005–2007).

Sofia Kiprskaya has taken part in the European harp congresses in Lyon and Cardiff and the international festivals Virtuosi of the Planet, Musical Olympus, Crescendo, Palaces of St Petersburg and Mikkeli Festival.

She has also given a recital at the World Harp Congress in Amsterdam (2008) and represented Russia at the World Harp Congress in Sydney (2014). In 2013 Sofia Kiprskaya gave a recital at Carnegie Hall.

Together with the Russian Institute of the History of the Arts the harpist has recorded two discs of music from the times of Empress Elizabeth.